the dawning of a new era

It has been quite a while since i have let the world in on the fabulous adventures that has befallen me.

Chipmonk drama:
Miranda had opened the door to the double wide to take things to the car and he the Chipmonk ran into the house, under Helen's chair I screll and run for my bedroom, Hilary ends up on a rocking chair and rachael is on one of the dining room chairs, the chipmonk runs into shay's foot (who is unfazed by the chipmonk) and I think he escapes to under the kitchen sink again. So I'm glad i'm not the only one who reacts badly to it. In my defense, he could have some disease and by climbing onto my bed, I am less likely to get it. maybe.

Tennessee Accomadations:
I am in and have been in tennesee for the past four days. I have traded my trailer for a hotel room. Better than the frat. (I secretly liked the frat because it had character and it was so aweful it was funny--I would be killed if I voiced this opinion to teammates) The hotel is nice, some one changes our bedding, towels, takes out the trash. room service is nice. There are washers available so I did laundry yesterday. I had forgotten my detergent back in Indiana but I being the creative resourceful reader of cheapskate monthly that I am used complimentary shampoo and washed my clothing. AND IT WORKED!! so if you ever do not have detergent try shampoo.

Racing:
Always a favorite subject. The doubles catagory had 36 entries. My partner and I did not have a good race, it was quite frusterating. We came in 25th but we should have placed top 12 (imho). Technique went out the window and we did not preform well. The quad did better we placed 3rd in our heat to garner a seat in the final. The final was today. It was painful. It was hard. I had the feeling of: Why do i do this? I hate this. This is not true but it gets so hard that those thoughts come. Not having a cox is one of the more difficult aspects of switching from sweep to skulling. I like being able to hear someone verbalizing things. I not supposed to talk in the boat but it is so much easier when someone else is. I dont have someone to say words to me.

we were even with third place going into our sprint. Became frantic and when we needed ten good strokes we had ten bad ones and missed third. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. This is the second time I have pulled down a 4th place at an important regatta (dad vail with SPU's eight was the other one) and it is not a pleasent feeling especially when I feel like i HAD it. I have worked so hard to keep calm and not let anxiety take control of my mind and for 1750 meters i had it. and in the last 250 I lost it. It wasnt totally my fault that we lost 3rd. However I definately contributed to it.

I basically have gone through the five stages of grief. from the last ten strokes in denial to now. I am now in acceptance mode. It was a great race. It was my best one yet. I am improving. I am getting better with each race. Hey Jude just came on my pandora. All my SPU team mates especially the Savy know that this song for me is very comforting. Its like a huge inside joke for the crazy four. "Then you can start to make it better" I needed that. Thank you God and pandora.

TV
For the past two weeks I have decended into TV watching idolatry I am up to 13 subscriptions on hulu. That is pretty bad. That needs to stop. I am going to try to read through the new and old testament in the 25 days i have left here. cutting my tv watching down to one show per day. Not like the 4-8 I've been at. I think it is a form of escapism. So now it is time to finish reading the books I brought with me. Faithfulness. It's an easy road to get off and stall on.

So thats it. I will head back to the double wide tomorrow for two more weeks there until I head out to canadian Henley. Two teammates are done tomorrow and we get joined by two new ones. I am excited about new friends. New people are always good.